A bus bar, produced by punching an electrical conductive material, is contained in and forms an internal circuit in an electrical connection box, such as a junction box or the like.
For convenience of explanation, a conventional bus bar will be described by referring to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional electrical connection box for an automobile. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view that illustrates a problem caused in a conventional bus bar.
More particularly, as shown in FIG. 7, an electrical connection box 1 includes a casing with an upper casing member 2 and a lower casing member 5. Bus bars 4 and insulation plates 3 are alternately laminated on each other in the casing. An end of each bus bar 4 is bent to form a tab 4a. The tabs 4a penetrate a connector containing section 2a in the upper casing member 2, a fuse containing section 2b, and a relay containing section 2c directly or through intermediate terminals. The tabs 4a are connected to a connector C coupled to a wire harness W/H, a fuse F, and a relay R.
Heretofore, the bus bars 4, constituting the internal circuits, have been made of a copper-based metal plate having high electrical conductivity. The copper-based metal plate is punched into the bus bars 4 having a desired circuit configuration. A desired end of each bus bar 4 is bent to form a tab 4a. 
Recent requirements necessitate enhanced recyclability of junked automobiles. Iron makes up the largest part of an automobile. When the junked automobile is thrown into an incinerator to recover and recycle the iron, it is required that a mixing rate of copper in iron should be less than 0.1% in order to prevent the iron from being denatured due to a reaction with the copper.
Since the bus bars 4 are made of the copper-based metal plate, as described above, it is preferable to remove the bus bars 4 from the car body upon disassembly of the automobile and to separate the bus bars 4 from the car body made of an iron-based metal. However, the electrical connection box must be disassembled in order to remove the bus bars from the electrical connection box 1. This work requires extensive manpower and is not practical.
To avoid interference with iron recovery from a practical recycling standpoint, the bus bar is selected from an aluminum-based metal that will not denature the iron.
However, as shown in FIG. 8, there is a problem in the following case. A bus bar 4′ is made of an aluminum-based metal. An end of the bus bar 4′ is bent to form a tab 4a′. A press contact slot 4b is formed in the tab 4a′. When a terminal T of a connector C, a relay R, a fuse H or the like is forcedly pushed into the press contact slot 4b by a strong force to fit the terminal T in the slot 4b, the tab 4a′ will buckle.
In view of the above problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bus bar that can enhance recyclability of an automobile and does not crack and buckle at a proximal part.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification.